Fins-Codes-01 [Hypertext Document]
V. Schreibman and B.A. Hoduski, A NEW ERA OF "PEOPLE POWER POLITICS":
Addressing the challenges of democratic sustainability and civic infrastructure (Rev May 1999).
* Vigdor Schreibman is editor and publisher of the Federal
Information News Syndicate (FINS) and Bernadine Abbott
Hoduski is a prominent government information advisor
and former professional staff member of the U.S. Congress,
Joint Committee on Printing.
The American Library Association (ALA), Washington Office Newsline, October 16,
1998, noted with disappointment that the 105th Congress would conclude, "without
passing much needed reforms to Title 44, the law governing public printing,
procurement, and dissemination." The ALA explained that, "Members of Congress,
spurred on primarily by some information technology and private publishing
groups, defeated efforts to enact S. 2288, the Government Publications Reform
Act of 1998."
S.2288 arose from a comprehensive two year effort supported by the seven
leading associations of the nation, who represent more than 80,000 librarians,
information specialists, and others interested in library issues. It would
have expanded the public's access to government information in all formats;
assured that information that is currently not available free to the public
because of exclusive publishing contracts with private entities or is sold
by the agency to make money would be part of the depository library program;
and would have required that the appropriate government agencies work together
to find a way to make that information permanently available. It would also
have required that the new government publications office coordinate the
procurement and production of government publications.
It is this last requirement that brought opposition from companies who are
selling expensive printing and reproduction equipment, along with other
technologies to a more and more decentralized government. As it turned out
Congress was more interested in making sure that companies make money than
in passing a bill that would require that tax dollars be spent wisely and at
the same time would have made it easier for the government to keep track of
government information and provide that information free of charge to the public.
Standing alone, individual Americans and many of our vital public interest
institutions, such as libraries and civic groups, have fallen into bondage under
the financial powers of big corporate business. During the past two decades
the Federal depository library program has been crippled by the loss of
appropriations. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions of dollars, appropriated for
information technology to improve government, have been "thrown away" by the
Information Technology Industry. Armed with almost half a trillion dollars
in annual sales revenues the ITI's efforts to kill rational reform of Title 44,
cannot possibly be overcome by librarians alone.
Librarians will fight for a new Government Publications Reform Act in the 106th
Congress. Standing alone against such material powers they will not likely
prevail. Nor can Americans resolve many other community, national, and global
needs in the absence of a union of individuals committed to democratic action.
It is urgent that people together identify society's most important collective
issues, fight for access to information and an infrastructure that can support
broad understand those issues, and develop effective strategies to resolve
those collective issues.
John J. Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, issued a statement about income
inequality to FINS, Nov 23, 1998, observing that, "(O)n the middle and lower
rungs of the economic ladder, where individuals make $23,000-$55,000 a year ...
(a)s of last June, for example, the medium wage was about $11.13 per hour, which
is 17 cents lower than in 1989. The bottom line is this: the American economy is
generating jobs and record levels of profits, but it is not generating real wage
growth for 70 percent of American families."
Moreover, between 1983 and 1995 the wealthiest 5% of households grabbed
100% of the gain in net worth, the lion's share going to the top 1%. The top
1% also jacked up their share of net wealth to 38%; the top 20%, held 84% of
the total. Net worth fell for all others, the lower wealth groups suffering
the greatest declines according to statistical calculations prepared by Edward
N. Wolff, Professor of Economics, New York University, an authority on wealth
distribution who we conferred with by phone Dec 2, 1998. By 1997, Wolff reported,
"one man, Bill Gates, was worth about as much as the 40 million American households
at the bottom of the wealth distribution!"
See e.g., Wolff, Comments on Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of
Household Wealth, 12 J. ECON. PERSP. (Summer 1998): pp. 131-150 (based on US
ederal Reserve Board's 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances (released July 1997)).
Unfair political power is often related to inequitable distribution of material
wealth, and the resulting pattern one can clearly see has brought about a,
"catastrophic crisis of inequity." In a bold and convincing, scholarly analysis
and synthesis, Created Unequal (1998), the problem is described by James
K. Galbraith, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of
Texas at Austin. Here is what Galbraith says about the basic nature of
America's defining crisis:
Similarly, Sweeney told FINS, "If there is any lesson we can learn from the lastLabor supply, labor demand, the natural rate of equilibrium,
"market wages": each of these ideas flow from a simple
supply-and-demand diagram. Taken together, they describe
conditions in a market that does not exist and never has
existed, a market that is only an image, a market for a
commodity that itself is only a vague abstraction, a
figment of long-dead economics professors' imaginations
.... We need a rebellion ... against the analytical
tyranny of the idea of the market, as it applies to pay.
The political challenges faced by Americans in the Global Information Age,
revolve around finding a solution to resolve the struggle between the corporate
"bottom line" and the public interests. Based on the studies cited we believe
that these challenges include strengthening democratic sustainability and
nourishing our civic infrastructure:
Modern American culture shaped by monopoly capitalism has become the very
underworld built on the principles of instant gratification and the pursuit of
power, depicted by Isaac Bashevis Singer in, Shadows on the Hudson (trans
J. Sherman, 1997), for which Singer won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978.
Without equitable distribution of income, the comfortable disavow the needy,
the rich feel more secure, and the poor feel less hopeful. "The rise of
inequality is the cause of our dreadful political condition," Galbraith
observes, "the ugly battles over welfare, affirmative action, health care,
social security."
The crisis of inequality in the distribution of wealth and income in America
undermines all responsible moral relationships: economic, social, and
ecological. While this inequity may be supported by technology (e.g.,
downsizing, reengineering and globalization), it is not the simple result
of either technology or any lack of education, as commonly explained.
Inequity is a moral and political issue driven by the social principles and
related public policies, which elevate greed over the public's well being.
See e.g., James K. Galbraith, Created Unequal ch 16 "The Fate of the
Market" (1998).
These principles and policies of greed are designed to constrain full employment
and limit wage pressures, as an unwarranted hedge against inflation. This is to
assure the supremacy of monopoly capitalism, in which we have seen, all
productivity gains in income and wealth are taken by capital!
What is crucial in the existing scheme is the blind belief in "free market"
fictions, and establishment of relationships derived from "marketability" driven
by a capitalist ethic of profit maximization. The alternative choice for
Americans is "a rebellion ... against the analytical tyranny of the idea of the
market." Supplanting capitalist "marketability," one may choose relationships
based on democratic "sustainability," guided by the advancement of ecological
integrity, social equity and economic prosperity as mutually reinforcing goals.
See e.g., Vigdor Schreibman, A Structure of the Next Political
Revolution: The end of capitalism and triumph of democracy (July 1998).
Government and big businesses are supported by powerful structures such as
intelligence agencies, police, corporate welfare, privately managed
transportation and channels of communications that are mostly unregulated
and part of monopolies, etc. Without a counter structure under the direct
control of citizens -- a civic infrastructure -- there is no way to assure
that government and big business will act in a responsible way to serve the
people.
A civic infrastructure should include government and civic information and
communications systems, supported by human rights standards.
Sound public information systems can validly inform the citizenry about the
actions of government. A viable civic infrastructure that includes strong
public, school and academic libraries, community networks, and human rights
standards can help shift citizens out of social paralysis and chaos toward
true democratic dialogue free from profit pressures. Without these, the
people cannot overcome the distorted core beliefs imposed by capital on
society : fountainhead of the culture of the underworld.
These challenges can be addressed by enlarging the "psychic powers" of the
people to exercise their collective will. By "psychic powers" we refer to the
interpenetration of ideas and the spiritual understanding between inhabitants
of a community. This is the very basis of a society, as explained in
Mary
Parker Follett, The New State ch X, "Society" (1918).
Group organization for popular government through continuing substantive
dialogue is the basis for enlarging the "psychic powers" of the people. This
was confirmed during times of national crisis such as World War I and II, the
Vietnam war, the civil rights battles of the 1960s, and the environmental
battles of the 1970s as well as during progressive eras.
By an exercise of the will of the many, the people who hold the democratic
powers can overcome the material powers of big business corporations, who hold
no legitimate authority of government.
We are entering a new era of "people power politics," observed the AFL-CIO's
John Sweeney, during a press conference at the National Press Club, broadcast
on C-Span Radio Nov 4. "They have the money, but we've got something money
can't buy, we've got the people." With those words, Sweeney described how the
unions won seats during the mid-term 1998 elections. They won by one-to-one
contact instead of by superficial media driven slogans.
Presently, we are witness to a global grass roots battle against the
Multinational Agreement on Investments (MAI). At the same time a major change
in the American labor movement has been launched under John Sweeney's leadership
of the AFL-CIO. Non-government Organizations (NGOs), together with workers and
their unions, are expanding their focus into a global movement for action on several
fronts: labor, society, and politics. This movement has rejected the big business
push for unilateral protection of investors. Instead, the call is for new
principles of human rights, and a "restructuring of the world's international
financial institutions to promote sustainable, egalitarian economic development
around the globe."
See e.g., Globalization and the MAI Information Centre hosted by the National
Centre for Sustainability, of Victoria, BC, Canada; AFL-CIO Statement on MAI.
The ability to quickly and effectively organize around causes in the Global
Information Age, is possible because of the world wide web, which has nurtured
a fast growing Electronic Political Commons that supports a democratic
communications medium, "of the people, by the people, for the people." The
Electronic Political Commons, of citizen's websites, is freeing the people to
spread the news and affect the political discourse, who gets elected, what
decisions are made, without dependency upon mass media.
This point was underscored by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, who has
observed the heartening growth of the NGO community. Linked by e-mail and the
World Wide Web into ever-more effective national and global networks, "civil
society groups are changing diplomacy and changing the world." For example,
take the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
-- the driving force behind the
1997 Treaty to ban the production, stockpile, export and use of these abominable
weapons. Annan observed that "The Campaign demonstrated that there are no
limits to what civil society can achieve in partnership with Governments."
How did they do it? One thousand NGOs in 60 countries were linked
together by one unbending conviction and a weapon that would
ultimately prove more powerful than the landmine: E-mail.
Using the formula of "people power politics" many interdependent groups could
work together in a grand coalition to organize tens of millions of citizens and
build a better America where citizens rather than corporations determine the
priorities of government. We recommend that the core partners of such a coalition
should be: Workers and labor unions; environmental groups; non-governmental
organizations; poverty and retirement groups; librarians and consumer advocates;
and community computer networking groups.
A great constellation of voluntary groups should be integrated for that effort,
perhaps, marshalled under the Electronic Political Commons to form a, "Coalition
for democratic sustainability" (CODES). CODES could be organized as a new
institution designed to bring out the greatest degree of psychic power derived
from member unity in the pursuit of democratic sustainability and a civic
infrastructure.
Collaboration in CODES can be deepened by interactive dialogue facilitated
through the Electronic Political Commons, so as to deliberately and explicitly
integrate the interests of members. The core coalition partners may, in due
time, be joined by others from relevant fields of interest. Schedule 1, below,
lists the core collaborating groups and their shared values and strategic goals.
We are the heirs of a liberation movement extending over the last forty centuries
when the Jews were freed from the anciet Pharaohs, and drawing inspiration in more
recent times from: 17th-century Galileo, 18th-century Paine, 19th-century Lincoln,
20th-century King.
The 21st-century coming before us will doubtless continue that tradition. Of all
these, perhaps, the classic in the history of modern political movements was
initiated around the "fighting committee" as Mohandas Gandhi called his
first political action group, formed in 1893 on behalf of, "unlettered and helpless"
Indian merchants who were subjected to monstrous racial discrimination by the British.
A "monster petition" was to be sent to the colonial overlords, and they went out
in their carriages and collected about 10,000 signatures in a two week period, after
making each signatory aware of the significance of the petition, as Gandhi had
insisted. (Yogesh Chadha, Gandhi: A Life 64-65 (1997)).
This generation also has a "monster petition" to lay before the legislators.
And it too will be pursued with the unvanquishable people power, which is within the
natural spirit of Americans, and indeed the global people, when they arise after
slumber to discover their new leaders and their own courage and commitment to
confront the "catastrophic crisis of inequity," of these times.
Schedule 1. Coalition for democratic sustainability (CODES)
Core Public Interest Collaborative Strategic Purposes & Groups Goals & Objectives
Pursuit of democratic sustainability
Workers and Wage structure, full labor Unions employment James K. Galbraith, Created Unequal (1998); Today's Unions
Environmental groups Economic prosperity; social equity; and ecological integrity President's Council on Sustainable Development; Save Our Environment ACTION CENTER; WE THE PEOPLE: Sustainability
Non-governmental organizations Civic infrastructure Independent Media Center; International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Poverty and Stable transfer payments retirement groups for the social safety net James K. Galbraith, Created Unequal (1998); Children's Defense Fund; National Coalition for the Homeless; American Association of Retired Persons
Pursuit of civic infrastruture
Librarians and Free access, government consumer advocates information systems, and assured access to important Congressional documents Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy; Congressional Accountability Project
Community groups Democratic global information guided by an acceptable use policy (AUP), and community networking Relevant information and communications infrastructure links; Freenets & Community Networks